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| National |
| Muluzi’s outbursts anger Tembo, Gwanda |
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by
Mc Donald Chapalapata, 16 September 2003
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08:58:52
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MCP president John Tembo and vice president Gwanda Chakuamba on Monday expressed dismay at President Bakili Muluzi’s outbursts against them and said he is busy castigating them during his political rallies because he fears them.
Chakuamba said Muluzi is castigating the two because they were against Muluzi’s bid for a third term of office which flopped early this year.
“It is very clear that Muluzi is castigating us because we opposed his third term bid. He fears us,” he said.
He said the MCP leaders wish they too were given an opportunity on the public broadcaster to respond to Muluzi’s scathing remarks.
“We have been asking for airtime on Malawi Broadcasting Corporation where he has access to castigate us, but they have not allowed us to use the radio. We should also be given time to respond on the radio,” said Chakuamba.
Muluzi told a rally he addressed in Machinga on Sunday that he has got evidence that Tembo plotted to kill Roman Catholic Bishops and that Chakuamba manhandled chiefs in the Northern Region in 1973.
He challenged that he is ready to testify in a court of law against the two MCP leaders and advised people not to vote for them “because they have got blood in their hands’.
But Chakuamba said: “If he is saying that he has evidence against us, why can’t he take us to court? Why didn’t he have the evidence during the 1994 or 1999 elections? All we are asking for is to have access to the radio”.
In another interview, Tembo said what Muluzi is saying is laughable.
“My reaction to that is laughter. That coming from a head of state, I didn’t know that this country has sunk so low,” said Tembo.
The Communications Act, which Malawi Communications and Regulatory Authority (Macra) is mandated to implement calls for balancing of news. MBC and Television Malawi have on various fora been under fire for not meeting this requirement.
Macra director general Evance Namanja declined to comment on the Authority’s position on Muluzi’s outburts against opposition leaders as aired on MBC and TVM.
Asked if MBC would give Tembo and Chakuamba access to the radio, MBC director general Owen Maunde also refused to comment on the matter when contacted on Monday.
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